1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile telephone holding device for holding a portable telephone having an infrared optical communication interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an earlier mobile telephone holding device (not prior art) comprises a telephone holder 555 for holding a portable telephone 551 thereon. The telephone holder 555 has a connector 557 connected to a connector 553 provided on the portable telephone 551. In the telephone holder 555, signals from the telephone 551 are distributed to respective signal lines, for example, a power line, an antenna cable, an aural signal line, etc. and finally connected to electronic instruments on a vehicle. For example, the aural signal line is connected to an audio unit of a xe2x80x9chands-freexe2x80x9d apparatus in the vehicle. While, on the telephone holder 555, the portable telephone 551 is securely interposed between closing plate-shaped stays 557 slidably arranged on the holder 555.
Meanwhile, there is recently established IrDA (Infrared Data Communication Association) standard for carrying out a method of associating the portable telephone with the exterior instruments in a non-contact manner. Under such a situation, as shown in FIG. 2, a portable telephone 505 for adopting an infrared communication system is proposed (not prior art).
This portable telephone 505 is provided, on a lower side thereof, with an infrared communication interface 513. In case of holding such a portable telephone 505 on the telephone holder, it is also provided with another infrared communication interface for executing the infrared communication against the telephone 505, thereby effecting the association of the telephone 505 with the exterior xe2x80x9con-boardxe2x80x9d instruments in a non-contact manner.
In detail, as shown in FIG. 3, respective IrDA elements 527 used for this infrared communication interface each has a communication area 569 radiating within a range of approx. xc2x115 degrees to the front. Especially in case that one element 527 is distant from the other one as shown in the figure, it is necessary that the IrDA element 527 is contained in the communication area 569 of the mating IrDA element 527.
The above-mentioned holding devices have the following drawbacks.
First, in the mobile telephone holding device of FIG. 1, an user has to attach and detach the connector 557 to and from the portable telephone 551 every time he gets on and off the vehicle, being accompanied with a burdensome task. In addition, since the connector 557 itself is remarkably compact, there is a possibility of imperfect connection between the connectors 557, 553 due to their damage or deformation in handling the connector 557.
Next, in case of connecting the portable telephone 505 of FIG. 2 with the exterior xe2x80x9con-boardxe2x80x9d instruments in the non-contact manner, it is required to adjust the positions of the elements 527 so that the light-receiving area of each light-receiving (incident) element 565 contains a light-emitting element of the mating IrDA element 527 as shown in FIG. 3.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, there is a possibility that, under a condition that the IrDA elements 527 are close to each other, a light-receiving area 567L of the incident element 565L of the left IrDA element 527L does not overlap with a light-emitting area 563R of the light-emitting element 561R of the right IrDA element 527R perfectly. Consequently, there is caused a problem of impossibility in the infrared communication despite that an off-set distance T (FIG. 4) between the respective centers of both IrDA elements 527L, 527R is smaller than the off-set distance S (FIG. 3) between the respective centers of both IrDA elements 527, 527 (S greater than T).
Further, in case that the positions of the IrDA elements are different for every types of portable telephones, then it is necessary to alter the position of the IrDA element on the telephone holder in accordance with the sort of portable telephone, inducing the deteriorated operability.
Additionally, it should be noted that the IrDA element on the telephone holder""s side directs to the inside of the telephone holder in view of the requirement of non-contact communication with the portable telephone. Therefore, there is a problem of impossible communication between the portable telephone being accommodated in the xe2x80x9con-boardxe2x80x9d telephone holder and a portable communication tool, such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) each having an infrared optical communication interface, a xe2x80x9cnotebookxe2x80x9d type personal computer, etc.
Under such a circumstance, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mobile telephone holding device which is capable of establishing a stable communication between a portable telephone and electronic instruments and also between the telephone and a portable communication tool without adjusting the positions of respective infrared optical communication interfaces precisely.
According to the invention, the above-mentioned object is accomplished by a mobile telephone holding device for detachably holding a portable telephone and transferring optical signals between a first infrared optical communication interface arranged on a surface of the portable telephone and a second infrared optical communication interface connected to electronic instruments, the mobile telephone holding device comprising:
an optical path changing member disposed between a plane containing the surface of the portable telephone having the first infrared optical communication interface thereon and another plane containing the second infrared optical communication interface, for changing a direction of an optical path of the optical signal entering through one of the planes to a direction toward the other plane.
With the above-mentioned arrangement, owing to the provision of the optical path changing member, the simple operation to abut the first infrared optical communication interface arranged on the portable telephone on a surface of the optical path changing member allows to carry out the transmitting/receiving of optical signal between the portable telephone and electronic instruments through the optical path changing member.
The above and other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent, and the invention itself will best be understood, from a study of the following description and appended claims, with reference to the attached drawings showing one preferred embodiment of the invention.